Yvette Berry not welcome at Kippax butcher over neglect of shopping centre

Elite Meats owner Wes Dempsey wrote "Yvette Berry MLA not welcome" on a specials board in the Kippax shopping centre.

Mr Dempsey said the centre was suffering from high crime rates, a lack of parking and stalled developments.

"She is not welcome here because of the lies that she told. And secondly, because of just the lack of support for people out here in west Belconnen with the crime, with taking away our services, taking away a car park. It's too much," he said.

Mr Dempsey said over the nine years he had operated the butchery, he had seen an increase in instances of drug dealing, break-ins and workers being threatened at knife point.

His customers complained about a lack of parking at the shopping centre after a block of land with a carpark was sold and fenced off for insurance reasons.

Mr Dempsey said he wanted to put Ms Berry on notice and he wouldn't hesitate to take things further.

"Should she be in the position at all if she cannot see what's going on right on her own doorstep at her old local shops? If she's too arrogant to not even come around to us to ask questions about what's going on in this area?" he said.

"At the end of the day, if you're a politician, you answer to us. You answer to the people that put you there. If you've been in the job too long or you've lost sight of that, that's not good enough."

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When Ms Berry was asked about the sign, she said the business was frustrated about delays to the sale of land at the back of Kippax.

She said this was due to contamination that was discovered in August that would need to be tested over a few years under Environmental Protection Agency rules.

"So of course, there are some shopping centre owners who are frustrated by the delays," Ms Berry said.

"Unfortunately, they are delays that are required to keep our community safe, and I share their frustration, but I understand the reasons why there are those delays and those requirements are being put on the government by the EPA."

Mr Dempsey said the development of the new centre had been stalled for many years and it was unknown what had caused the contamination on this piece of land.

"It's just been stalled and stalled and stalled. If you want contamination around here, no problem. The contamination is red tape, lies and bullshit," he said.

Several developments have been proposed at Kippax, including retail and housing on the Holt playing fields.

Ampol was ordered to pay $200,000 after nearly 80,000 litres of petrol leaked from an underground tank. The carpark adjacent to this petrol station has been fenced off. A developer has proposed a five-storey building with 76 apartments for this site.

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